A cycling librarian's point of view...

I was asked to introduce myself and logically, since I'm a librarian received the following question :
<i>Originally posted by ljbike
I noticed from your profile that you are a librarian. Every once in awhile a thread comes up from people looking for a good read. Do you know of any books on cycling, touring or general interest that might pique the imagination of other members?</i> [/B]

Well, not a librarian of the type you know.. I'm one of those behind the screens that make catalogues .. yawn, yawn, yawn..
:sleep:
Can I tell you a piece of heresey? I haven't finished reading a book in a long time! Yet, I read more than I ever did before...
The answer is the Internet my friend!

I can mention a few books in my possession or books that I'd like to have..

The last book I've bought is one I bought online last night from a Canadian.. Neil Anderson.. He cycled in Europe and North America with his wife. you can have a look at ttp://www.cyclelogicpress.com
I've become a bit wary of travelogues especially now you can read them for free (heresy again ;-) ) on the web so often. However, I really enjoyed his writing style and hope that the snippets I've read on the web will be as good as the book.

Ever since I've started cycling more, I've become desillusioned with Dutch bike paths.. and started hating the bike apartheid system which we have more and more... you automatically arrive at the vehicular cycling field of which John Forester is the best known advocate. I've bought his amazingly comprehensive book and while it's a little outdated by now as far as pure bike materials and other perishable knowledge is concerned, his advice is very well thought out and well written.. a vast volume of 600 pages minus 1 and 49 chapters.

On training I own a book by a Dutch writer called "Moderne training voor wielrenners" /Modern Training for Roadracers by Cees Vermunt. The advice is OK, but I'm not a road racer, hence the need for that other book... Truth is, that there's little known about REAL long-distance cycling.. So, I bought a book by Simon Doughty called, "The long distance cyclist' handbook" it's smaller than you'd think necessary for a handbook and covers more subjects than you would imagine necessary for the size... Perhaps I'm an oldie by now, since it contained little I didn't know already, but it was nice to see it written together and confirmed.
So, I guess I'm still looking for THE book written for people who actually don't like training but know they should train ;-)..
The answer is fairly easy : don't buy a car (which I followed) and go everywhere by bicycle unless it's unpractical.. I try to adhere to that advice, but considering the poor signposting for cyclists and the bad condition of a lot of bike paths.. it makes me ripe for the mental asylum.

To cure this condition.. I've got a number of travel books from cyclists.. one I particularly like is Dervla Murphy, who was daft enough to go riding a single-speed men's bike to India, starting in December from London... you really have gotta be daft to try..
I'm also waiting with impatience on a book I've received exactly 1 year ago, but because of the unkept promises of my host, still haven't received my copy of the complete unabridged version of the book on the first RTW bicycle ride by a Usonian journalist.. he rode on a penny-farthing.. can you imagine!!!

Other authors I like are Josie Dew and Anne Mustoe.. all women.. Sorry, I just enjoy female writers more than men.

Yet another type of book are the guide books... I have a German guide books, called Reise Know How: Fahrrad Weltfuhrer (a cyclists's Worldguide) and another one in Dutch which does the same but only for Europe.. it tells me what to expect cycling wise in every European country and which routes are popular.
As of 2001, Lonely Planet also publishes books on particular countries for cyclists. I've bought Cycling in France but they also have copies for Britain, New Zealand and Australia.

And finally, I'm thinking of publishing routes myself after I've devised them.. In 2001 I completed a fairly prestigeous route , called Route des Cent Cols (itinerary of 100 mountain passes) : 4000K in 2 months over 110 French mountain passes. I liked it so much that I'm contemplating to design similar routes in other countries.. I had ordered the itinerary and it came with a booklet in which I had to collect route stamps from certain towns I passed. It would be fun to have similar options for other countries.. I was told that such a tough ride would not draw enough people interested, but I am convinced this is not true..

Thank you! for the links and book titles. It was far more than I could have hoped for. You write well. The route guides you are contemplating, will they be in Dutch or English? That 4000K route sounds like a summer of fun.
Thank you, again. And WELCOME, again.

Originally posted by ljbike Thank you! for the links and book titles. It was far more than I could have hoped for. You write well. The route guides you are contemplating, will they be in Dutch or English? That 4000K route sounds like a summer of fun.
Thank you, again. And WELCOME, again.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the book by John Forester is called Effective Cycling.

The French itinerary exists already and is designed by a DUTCH cycling club. The cue sheeets are almost self-explanatory though..
You can take a look at

It was so much fun to do, even for a slow slug, no a tortoise, as I carry my camping gear with me that I wanted to do similar challlenging yet very touristy rides in other countries.. Spain&Portugal will be the next ones in 2003 with routes copied from the Vuelta as a starting point...

Well, not a librarian of the type you know.. I'm one of those behind the screens that make catalogues .. yawn, yawn, yawn.. [\quote]

You mean you don't find the fine details of Dewey or Library of Congress exciting? :eek!:

Welcome to the forums from an ex-cataloguer and "para-librarian"/information scientist.

Richard

We use an adapted Dewey .. or should I say used.. we had the Universal Decimal Code. It seemed as if I was the only one who liked it... they did away with the system as nobody was using it..
There's yet another system used in the public libraries..
Specific systems are never enforced and it seems that every major library is using another one..

I'm thinking of changing to making indexes.. I enjoy fiddling with numbers and words.. but at the moment I'm doing a course in accounting.. as it will allow me to commute to whichever town I fancy .. most library jobs are too far away to commute a sensible distance! I want to be able to change jobs summer/winter and commute 15K in winter and 25K in summer.

Have you thought of one job 25 km away and only biking partway in the winter? For my part, coming from the US where biking is taking your life into your hands, I found Dutch bike paths very relaxing, especially since I don't read Dutch well. I always like to see Dutch cyclists showing up here. Welcome.

Originally posted by Kevin S You could also use Nebill's method of biking 25 K to cover the 15 K to your job. He turns the wrong way out of his driveway and rides 5 miles before turning around and heading to work.

The reason why I'm actually going to change my job is that it's nearly impossible to find any library job at a bike-commutable distance.
There are plenty libraries in the town where I live, but somehow there aren't many vacancies.
The jobs that ARE available are always at least a 30mins train ride a way (and another 20 or 30mins bike ride to get to one of the 2 train stations )
At the moment I'm doing a course in bookkeeping as these jobs are available in every single town and every single company. 15K in winter and 25K in summer seemed perfect..

However, I've discovered that I love my own field too much and hence will become an indexer after having finished a course on indexing. That will mean that i'll work from my own home, but as I'm a member of a gym at 13K distance I am cycling there 3 times/week.

However, I've discovered that I love my own field too much and hence will become an indexer after having finished a course on indexing. .

Hi Ivana:
nice to see another unabashed librarian on the lists, and glad to hear you're not necessarily going to leave the profession to become a bookeeper -- librarian-type stuff is too fun. (no really, it is)

One other thing you might want to consider with your skill set is extending your indexing/cataloguing knowledge to taxonomy-building, aka thesaurus development, esp. for companies that are trying to organize their internal information stores (esp. if they have chaotic, information-glutted intranets) and make them more readily accessible. I happen work in a company where there it turns out there are quite a few librarians who happen to be working in non-traditional roles. Consulting work of this type is a possibility -- and may be a good way to increase the possibilities/variety of commuting opportunities.

Another thing to consider might be extending your expertise to records and information management -- there's always a need for that and you're not tied to looking for job in a traditional library.

Hi Ivana:
nice to see another unabashed librarian on the lists, and glad to hear you're not necessarily going to leave the profession to become a bookeeper -- librarian-type stuff is too fun. (no really, it is)
-Cathy

Hi Cathy, that's wonderful to see another librarian here.. and most of all, one from Vancouver.. now I really have 2 questions for you..

Do you know Jane Lucas? I've contacted her by email but she doesn't respond it.. perhaps she changed the address? She's a librarian as well!
Also, I was looking for a job position in Vancouver for another librarian friend not for myself.. I know her because.. yes of course, because we both cycle.. and indeed Jane is another cycling librarian.

Actually I've just been explaining yesterday to someone how I liked the Canadian flag and have considered (for a while) to move to BC.. either Vancouver or Victoria ...